Latest News

By Giselle Tsirulnik
September 18, 2009

Department store giant Bloomingdale's is using mobile for its fall fashion campaign - Lights, Camera, Fashion - and adding an element of interactivity to engage with customers in a new way.

Three to five minute films that were shot and produced entirely in New York over the course of 15 days will be shown in all Bloomingdale's stores and on the Bloomingdales.com Web site. Shoppers will then have the opportunity to vote for their favorite BFlix film via SMS or Bloomingdales.com.

"We chose SMS voting for the customers who would see the films in the stores," said Anne Bridges, senior vice president for Bloomingdales.com. "We needed to be able to accommodate the various ways in which customers would see the films to make voting convenient in all cases."

KaOoga Mobile powers the mobile component for Bloomingdale's, the upscale department store chain that is part of Macy's Inc.

Consumers who vote are actually added to an opt-in database of names. Bloomingdale's can then use the list for future marketing.

Once the votes are tallied, the winning director will receive a trip to Film Independent's nationally televised Spirit Awards in Los Angeles, which is said to be the indie film industry's biggest night of the year.

While Bloomingdale's made itself available to aid in the production of the shorts, the films are not about shopping or about the retailer, though subtle nods to the store appear in each.

Having the mobile text-to-vote option added to the short trailers in the viewing lounge at Bloomingdale's locations allows customers to instantly interact with the video monitors.

By voting for best video, customers are helping send a director to the awards show.

In the same vein, Bloomingdale's launched Facebook and Twitter pages to engage its customers in an interactive way.

Mobile kayoes

The SMS and social media pushes are meant to offer something more to customers in addition to traditional print marketing.

"Overall, it is wonderful to be associated with a prestigious brand such as Bloomingdale's and we are honored to have the chance to service them," said Dave Everett, CEO of KaOoga, Newton, MA.

"Every day you read in Mobile Marketer about a new retailer taking the leap of faith into the mobile space and this program is simply another example of the power of mobile," he said.

Bloomingdale's' first foray into mobile was during its Girls' Night Out campaign in August.

The campaign centered around 19 up-and-coming actresses performing a screen test for director Jennifer Venditti.

The girls were filmed and photographed in Bloomingdale's' contemporary fashions. The results became its contemporary sportswear catalog and two short films which were screened at Bloomingdale's.com and in stores.

That effort let customers vote for their favorite of the 19 girls via SMS or online via a special microsite.

"The mobile space is exploding and it's been both exciting and interesting to watch how consumers are interacting with us and even purchasing from their phone," Ms. Bridges said. "We're exploring additional opportunities to reach the mobile consumer and ways to incorporate mobile into our online marketing mix."

Associate Editor Giselle Tsirulnik covers ad networks, advertising, content, email, media, messaging, legal/privacy, search, social networks, television and video. Reach her at giselle@mobilemarketer.com.

From Mobile Marketer, click here for the original article

By Jordan Crook
August 27, 2009

This is the year of mobile. Or is it?

Mobile Marketer's Jordan Crook interviewed key industry players from various sectors of the mobile space to find out what consumers, retailers and marketers should expect in the coming years.

Here is what they had to say:

Dave Everett, CEO at KaOoga, Newton, MA

As I was telling a client just the other day, SMS marketing is where Internet marketing was 10 years ago: still in its infancy, but evolving faster than anyone could imagine.

Everyone is texting. It is basically becoming more common than email and regular phone conversations.

Text is the future of communication. It is the backbone of teen and young adult's social lives and will grow with this new generation "Generation TEXT" into their professional lives. Even in daily business, text is how many meetings get scheduled.

Since people probably spend more time texting than watching TV, ads will naturally have to gravitate towards the viewers. We are starting to see that evolution now. More TV commercials are including a text component with text-to-win, viewer feedback and etcetera.

Moving forward, SMS marketing may be as common as ads on the radio every 15 minutes. With quality control and targeted, relevant ads via opt-in, SMS marketing should prosper. If marketers abuse this gateway, the entire system could flop and be as unaccepted as 'pop-up' ads on the Internet.

Perhaps a regrettable byproduct of this channel's growth, as ever greater percentage of ad budgets flow to it, is going to be the continuing decline, even collapse, of many mainstream media outlets such as big-city papers and local TV stations.

This has consequences in terms of who will be doing the original reporting and governmental watchdog role. This is troubling, but right now the focus in a harsh economy is getting optimal results for advertisers and optimal, measurable return on investment for their ad dollars and text is clearly the place to be for that.

Jordan Crook is an editorial assistant at Mobile Marketer. Reach her at jordan@mobilemarketer.com.

From Mobile Marketer, click here for the full article

By Giselle Tsirulnik
August 21, 2009

The Obama administration used traditional marketing channels such as the Internet, email, events, print, telemarketing, outdoor, television, radio, public relations and door-to-door to propell Barack Obama to the American presidency. But it is mobile that brought the candidate closer to the people.

That said, some mobile marketers are truly perplexed as to why the White House is not using mobile to shape the healthcare debate. The healthcare debate has truly been impassioning and outraging many Americans, depending on party affiliations.

The reason the healthcare bill has not been sold to many Americans is because they do not believe that healthcare is a civil right. Surveys show that about 87 percent of Americans who have health insurance do not see it in their best interest to ensure that the uninsured become insured.

Mobile Marketer's Giselle Tsirulnik, Dan Butcher, Jordan Crook and Chris Harnick reached out to mobile industry experts and asked one question: "How can the Obama administration use mobile to shape the healthcare debate?"

Here's what the mobile executives had to say:

Dave Everett, vice president and partner at Kaooga, Newton, MA

President Obama knows how to create drama and impact with text.

Remember, he announced his candidacy to about 2 million followers via text.

What he clearly needs to do now is mobilize his supporters, and those in favor of his vast new federal initiative, to counterpunch against the town-hallers, those angry crowds intimidating congressmen and senators.

He could send out geographically tailored texts telling his supporters exactly how to reach their own elected officials to express their personal support for this legislation before its totally eviscerated by the Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats.

Text is another way to reach young professionals - 25-35-year-olds - who may not be following the constantly changing healthcare story and frankly may not quite understand it either. Weekly updates with bulletpoint highlights could be a huge benefit in this battle.

Associate Editor Giselle Tsirulnik covers ad networks, advertising, content, email, media, messaging, legal/privacy, search, social networks, television and video. Reach her at giselle@mobilemarketer.com.

From Mobile Marketer, click here for the full article

By Giselle Tsirulnik
August 21, 2009

As the holiday season quickly approaches, marketers need to start their campaign planning. This year may be different than any other in terms of the role that mobile will play.

Marketers have quickly come to embrace mobile and all that it offers in terms of a one-to-one communication vehicle. There is no doubt that we will start seeing a shift in how major brands and retailers market for the holidays.

"Mobile marketing is no longer playing second fiddle to traditional media channels," said Shira Simmonds, president of Ping Mobile, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. "In fact, the ROI results and metrics have illustrated that mobile is more powerful, more engaging and more valuable than these other channels.

"In addition, most major brands and retailers have decreased their advertising budgets, and managers will be looking for a more cost-effective and trackable solution in order to justify each dollar spent," she said.

"In this regard, mobile is the most powerful marketing tool for these brands -- it will allow them to place information directly into the hands of consumers, and quickly drive an increase in foot traffic at the point of sale."

Advertisers have already begun their holiday marketing planning. As with other times of the year and all other campaigns, the key is to know one's audience.

Consumers are increasingly mobile, or on the go, and therefore the best way to reach out to them is on the device that they never leave home without -- the mobile phone.

With the amount of campaigns we've been seeing this year and all the databases of opted-in consumers that have been built for future marketing, there's no doubt that marketers will turn to mobile for this year's holiday marketing.

"Advertisers are planning for this year's holiday season now and by consistently leveraging mobile throughout the summer months and into the fall, they are reaching their consumer early," said Marcus Startzel, senior vice president of sales at Millennial Media, Baltimore.

"Consistent advertising, in a highly effective and efficient channel, will enable these brands to creatively retarget these consumers via mobile to impact purchase intent closer to the holidays," he said.

Like Ms. Simmonds, Mr. Startzel attributes the economic downturn as one of the main factors that will drive the use of mobile in this year's holiday marketing.

With the economic problems, marketers are looking for ways to save a buck or two, and because mobile is still a fairly new marketing medium the prices are still pretty low.

The volume of holiday marketing campaigns makes mobile very attractive to marketers looking to break through the clutter. Marketers that leverage the channel will have a great vehicle to get through to and reach their target audience.

"This year, even in a challenging economic environment, we expect retailers to be bullish on mobile advertising," Mr. Startzel said. "Recent studies from Universal McCann have shown that 80 percent of mobile Internet users browse the mobile Web while shopping.

"Marketers will leverage this user behavior to impact these consumers while they are in stores," he said. "By increasing campaign targeting on those days when consumers are more likely to be shopping, advertisers will get an even stronger return.

"When you combine this strategy with engaging ad units including expanding trailers, product displays and other viral components to register and forward to a friend, advertisers can reach and engage more than 61 million mobile consumers while they are in a place to make a physical purchase."

Last year's holiday marketing campaigns really only made use of SMS and although marketers are more advanced in their usage of mobile marketing, text-message communications will play a big role this year as well.

Last year, department store chain J. C. Penney Company Inc. launched an integrated marketing campaign and mobile just happened to be one of the components.

The campaign highlighted JCPenney's affordable gift assortment and invited customers to celebrate in the joy of giving during the holiday season.

Consistent with its "Every Day Matters" approach, JCPenney's marketing campaign communicated to customers that JCPenney understands their financial pressures and is designed to showcase the great value in shopping with the retailer.

Starting the week of Thanksgiving JCPenney let visitors sign up to get SMS alerts to their handsets.

The mobile alerts consisted of shopping tips, gift ideas and some included a link to a WAP site built especially for the campaign (see story).

"SMS should really have a profile this holiday season, especially among the forward thinking chains," said Dave Everett, president of Kaooga, Newton, MA. "Text is going to be bigger and better than ever before and holiday advertisers will be more creative than last year with their offers.

"As the economy struggles to stay afloat and consumer shopping habits adjust with the times, retailers become desperate to move products, and they will have to take advantage of a marketing tool that simply works," he said.

Not only does text work, it is cost-effective and measurable.

"First of all, you can be sure the retailers are going to be blasting coupons and incentives to their mobile database, and customized messages to the extent they have some demographic breakouts," Mr. Everett said.

But a new idea Mr. Everett is hearing about is tied into retailers overriding objective to get the customers into their stores first, before they've spent most of their holiday gift budgets.

That is why the big chains have Thanksgiving newspaper inserts touting their "DOORBUSTER" promotions saying "doors will open at 5am or 6am" on Black Friday. Sometimes they open as early as midnight on Thursday.

They may offer $800 PCs for just $250 to the first 50 customers, for example.

"What we're hearing is that some marketers are considering a second chance promotion where they could now use SMS to inform their database of shoppers that they have a midday price break, say between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., and note some of the bargains on offer," Mr. Everett said.

"The idea is essentially a mid-day, real-time shout-out to their customer database to get them to abandon their current shopping destination and head over to the SMS store's side of the mall," he said. "So if they can't get them in the morning, they can still try for half a loaf in the afternoon."

Associate Editor Giselle Tsirulnik covers ad networks, advertising, content, email, media, messaging, legal/privacy, search, social networks, television and video. Reach her at giselle@mobilemarketer.com.

From Mobile Marketer, click here for the original article

By Jordan Crook
August 4, 2009

At the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas, researchers Charlie Miller and Colin Mulliner presented a security threat to the iPhone that could potentially affect consumers' outlook on mobile marketing.

The researchers showed that Apple's iPhone entered the marketplace with a few vulnerabilities, one of which being an SMS hole that allows hackers and attackers to search and control the device by sending a certain type of text message to the iPhone. Once hacked into the system, an attacker can steal data, send messages, use the applications on the phone and even make calls.

"With about 21 million iPhones out there this presents a serious problem to Apple, their customers and the industry," said Dave Everett, vice president and partner at KaOoga, Newton, MA.

"Unfortunately, this event may be our first glimpse at what the mobile industry will face in the future," he said. "As mobile phones become more personal every day with banking and credit card info all accessible instantly, hackers appear like roaches in the dark."

While Apple has created a patch for the bug and delivered it before it was originally scheduled to be debuted, there still may be fear among consumers as to what kind of attack will show itself next time around.

The attack takes the form of a square box within a single text message that can search and control the phone even if the message has not been opened yet.

Apple has warned its users to turn off their iPhone immediately if they receive such a message and to keep iPhones off at night, when most users do not regularly check their phone.

The longer the attacker has access to the phone, the more damage can be done.

"Apple has demonstrated through its rapid response to addressing the security hole that the effect on mobile marketing will be minimal," said Michael J. Becker, vice president of mobile strategy at iLoop Mobile, San Jose, CA.

"SMS marketing is an incredibly valuable tool for generating interactivity between brand and consumer, irrespective of the platform it's done through," he said.

"As the world of mobile goes, the iPhone is a very small percentage of the market, less than 2 percent."

The SMS hole was not the only vulnerability shaking up the smartphone world, as there are other security issues that potentially allow an attacker to take control of the device through a WiFi connection or by luring the user to a Web site.

Reportedly, Google's Android and devices that work on Windows Mobile operating systems may be open to the same type of threat.

To download the patch, iPhone users must connect the device to their PC. Inside iTunes, click on the device and then click on the "Summary" tab.

Users can override their scheduled updates by clicking "Check for new updates," which will automatically link the user to the proper update to obtain the patch.

While these threats may make iPhone users weary, industry players have indicated that with Apple's speedy response to the vulnerabilities, there is little to worry about.

"As an industry best practice, nearly all brand-originated text messages begin with the brand or program name so that recipients can see who the SMS is coming from before deciding whether or not to open the message," said Michael Foschetti, managing director of Mobisix, Charlotte, NC.

"For these reasons, I do not believe that the presence of this iPhone bug will negatively affect SMS mobile marketing," he said. "People will continue to use the iPhone and consumers will continue to obtain deals, offers and coupons by way of the mobile phone."

Jordan Crook is an editorial assistant at Mobile Marketer. Reach her at jordan@mobilemarketer.com.

From Mobile Marketer, click here for the original article

By Dan Butcher
July 23, 2009

Marketers of spirits, tobacco and other adult-oriented products beware: Even if consumers opt in to an SMS campaign and verify their age, you still might be breaking the law in two states.

That is because of do-not-contact programs and related laws in Utah and Michigan. These state programs, which extend to SMS, dictate that marketers who advertise adult products and services such as alcohol, tobacco, gambling and pornography cannot market to any registered phone number or address with those states.

"I realize that mobile marketing is what email marketing was over five years ago -- it's a fast-growing trend that many companies are taking advantage of," said Rachelle Milbank, head of corporate and public relations for Unspam Technologies Inc., Salt Lake City, UT.

"In reaching out to companies and marketers about these laws and how it may affect their practices, I have been also trying to work with different publications and associations to help get the word out," she said.

"Especially in Utah, we are trying to educate as many companies and service providers as possible and have already sent advisory letters to many of the major companies and marketers across the U.S."

The do-not-contact programs in Utah and Michigan are geared towards families.

There are more than 320,000 registered contact points in the state of Utah that include emails, mobile phone numbers, instant messenger IDs and fax numbers.

The registry comprises private, family, children and school domains. Anyone is allowed to register an address where a minor is present.

Utah and Michigan are the only states who have do-not-contact laws that apply to SMS.

One odd aspect of the laws enforcing these programs is that even if a consumer double-opts-in for an SMS campaign and verifies that he or she is 21 or older, marketers would still be in violation if that person previously submitted their mobile phone number to either state's do-not-contact list.

According to Utah's Web site, the criminal and civil penalties are alarming: "Marketers who fail to comply with the law face potential felony charges and civil and criminal penalties from $1,000 to $5,000 per message sent in violation of the law.

"Civil suits may be filed by the Utah attorney general, the Utah Division of Consumer Protection, Internet service providers, and parents on behalf of their children."

Marketers that want to ensure that they don't run afoul of the law can visit http://www.RegistryCompliance.com.

To scrub consumer databases, in Utah it costs a half-cent per address or number, while in Michigan it costs 0.7 cents per address or number submitted.

"I want to make sure anyone and everyone who may be affected by the laws are taking a proactive stance to assure their compliance with the state," Ms. Milbank said. "We understand that these laws can slip under the radar, but that should not give a company the excuse to not obey the state laws.

"Even though these laws only pertain to 'adult-oriented' products and services, the industries are huge and need to know that this is not just a do-not-contact email registry, but an SMS one too," she said.

"To tell you a little bit about the laws pertaining to marketers, sending even one message to a registered address or phone number could result in criminal liability and substantial civil fines for any company whose product is being advertised, any service provider who assists in sending the message, as well as any individual who actually authorizes or sends the message."

This is the case even if, at some other point, the individual had purportedly opted-in to receiving the solicitations. A registration on the Utah registry trumps any request that the individual has made elsewhere, according to Unspam Technologies.

So, even if someone opts in to receive messages, if their address is registered with the state, it is a violation of the laws to send them messages.

"This is what makes the laws so unique and why many companies should know the laws cover both solicited and unsolicited advertisements," Ms. Milbank said. "There are a lot of scenarios that could go against companies and we are trying to make sure they are aware of them."

That means age verification and getting a consumer to sign up with a physical address, text message or area code does not always keep a company safe from sending to a registered address.

"These do-not-contact programs weren't created in reaction to something bad or any specific SMS campaigns, it was more of a proactive effort to protect consumers," Ms. Milbank said. "My main focus is community and corporate outreach, working with different organizations to get the word out and let people know that the state program exists.

"We've been publicizing them for the past year and we've had a 300 percent increase in registration numbers in Utah," she said.

"We're working with the State Attorney General's office and reaching out to service providers and other people in the industry who are affected by these laws to help them learn how to move towards compliance with the state programs."

An SMS marketer's perspective

"Until now, the media focus has been on online adult content," said Dave Everett, cofounder/CEO of KaOoga, Newton, MA. "I have heard rumors of such laws expanding into the mobile industry, but because SMS marketing is still in its infancy, it is difficult to keep track of laws that may be implemented under the radar.

"The do-not-call list is an interesting way to help protect minors from adult content," he said. "This particular format may be impossible for SMS marketers to keep up with, as the lists will constantly be changing."

As the laws enforcing these lists prove, ignorance isn't always bliss.

"Marketers may violate these laws without even knowing and put their clients in jeopardy," Mr. Everett said. "But, with a few adjustments, lists like these may be the only chance regulators have to achieve their goal.

"SMS is becoming the perfect avenue for a beverage, tobacco or gambling company, because it can create an instant call-to-action with measurable results," he said. "Marketing their products in an appropriate way to avoid interaction with minors is going to be a huge challenge as time goes on."

Adult content is probably going to become the next big battleground for regulators.

For the record, KaOoga wanted to make it clear that it does not associate its brand with any pornographic-related materials.

"Porn, alcohol, tobacco and gambling are all billion dollar businesses, so even if laws do get passed nationwide, people like Larry Flint will probably always find loopholes," Mr. Everett said.

Staff Reporter Dan Butcher covers banking and payments, carrier networks, commerce, database/CRM, manufacturers, music, software and technology. Reach him at dan@mobilemarketer.com.

From Mobile Marketer, click here for the original article

A few hundred innovators and marketers attended the Mass Innovation Night Wednesday at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation.

Organized by, among others, marketing guru Bobbie Carlton of Lexington, the evening is a chance for start up entrepreneurs to show off their wares and for local innovators to network.

"Mass Innovation Nights connect Massachusetts-based innovators with the marketplace using social media,'' says the Mass Innovation site. (The Twitter tag is #min4).

Among those in attendance were social media consultant Chuck Tanowitz of Newton, web developer and co-organizer Dan Englander, Boston Behind the Scenes podcaster Adam Weiss, Dave Everett of KaOoga! mobile marketing, travel website start up hopeful Michael Raybman, Mark Cohen of Needham and Jeff Cutler of Hingham.

From Boston.com, The Boston Globe's website, click here for the original article

By Galen Moore
July 10, 2009

In "How to Irritate People," the 1968 television special written by British comedian John Cleese, an obsequious waiter (fellow Monty Python player Michael Palin) interrupts diners incessantly, fussing over every detail. Boston entrepreneur Josh Bob has had to figure out how to prevent his restaurant-business customers from doing something very similar. His company, Textaurant LLC, is building a short-message-service (SMS) mobile text marketing platform for restaurants. The software would replace some establishments' clunky waiting-list pagers with an SMS message: "Your table is ready."

After you eat, Textaurant will send you a coupon and an invitation to opt in for more communication from the restaurant - daily specials, promotional discounts, etc. - but your phone number and your full name stay hidden from the nascent company's restaurant clients. "The default will be opt-out," said Bob, who is building a prototype of the web-based software product with two other founders.

How not to irritate people is a hurdle that text-message marketing companies are delicately trying to negotiate. Three area firms, Textaurant, Boston-based Kaooga Inc. and Concord-based Helmsman Marketing, have different approaches.

If text-message junk mail is the last thing you want, you might be surprised to learn how many people don't seem to mind it, according to Kaooga founder Dave Everett.

At the Comedy Connection in Boston's Theater District, hosts make an announcement halfway through: Send us a text to win tickets to the next show. Out of a full house of 400, half will text in, said Everett, whose company is providing the text-message coupon software Comedy Connection uses. When customers text into Kaooga's special offers at live events or in magazines, the software grabs their numbers for use in a marketing database.

Kaooga's clients, which include the department store Bloomingdale's and the hamburger chain Fuddruckers, follow up promotions like that with text-message coupon offers. An opt-out is available, but Everett said only 2 percent to 3 percent of recipients choose that option.

The messages don't go out to a spam list, he said. Text-message promotion ads appear only in catalogs people are reading, or settings they already frequent. For customers looking for discounts, Everett believes Kaooga is more of a service than a nuisance.

Each text message provides promotional codes for discounts customers would otherwise have to clip coupons to get. They can use the code on-premise or online - and that makes it easier for regular customers to find deals, he said.

Any SMS message from a company ought to provide a service that customers will want, said Jim Jackson, who is CFO at Helmsman Marketing. The company is getting ready to launch a software application that manages the timing of a series of messages in a marketing campaign or service - via fax, postal service, e-mail and text message. Text messages are the trickiest, said Jackson. It's an intimate medium, and not an effective way to send someone junk mail, he said.

Helmsman's software is used by insurance agents, software resellers and heating oil distributors. The company's strategy has been to identify industries that have large numbers of small- to medium-size businesses operating under similar models. Helmsman's software identifies the pattern and timing of messages that will most effectively accomplish an objective like reminding an insurance customer to renew his or her vehicle registration.

"SMS, in my view, is not necessarily a positive direct-marketing vehicle in terms of people you don't know," he said. "It's phenomenal for customer service."

From Mass High Tech, click here for the original article

By Giselle Tsirulnik
July 6, 2009

Fast food franchise Taco Bell has spiced up its marketing strategy with the introduction of a mobile component to its "Why Pay More" promotion.

Taco Bell launched the "Why Pay More Shaker" iPhone application, which calculates the various 79, 89 and 99 cent items on the restaurant's value menu. The application was created by the Hyperfactory.

"iPhones are considered to be the latest and the greatest," said Dave Everett, vice president and partner at KaOoga, Newton, MA. "They are made for people on the go and this fits in perfectly for fast food chains."

"The demographics also match up well as the iPhone users' age group skews towards a younger crowd," he said. "Another iPhone advantage is the enormous screen size - an advertiser's message is impossible to miss.

"Having mobile outreach gives fast-food chains an opportunity to push new products, specials and deals."

Taco Bell first launched its Why Pay More value menu last year and it couldn't have been a more perfect time. The battered economy has taken its toll on fast-food chain sales in general and the Why Pay More value menu is a great incentive to drive sales.

The Taco Bell value menu includes a variety of menu choices including burritos, tacos and nachos.

To use the app, users just need to enter the prices of the value menu items they are buying. Then, they have to shake their phone to trigger calculation.

The application is meant to show consumers that Taco Bell is dedicated to helping consumers save money during this tough time.

The application also calculates how much change consumers are to get back.

Customers with a limited amount of money in hand can enter the amount they have and the app will show them what combinations of menu items they can afford to buy.

The app also has a store locator link that helps find the nearest Taco Bell. Gomobo built an iPhone application for fast-food chain Burger King. The Burger King app lets consumer place orders and pay for them their iPhone (see story).

Additionally, Gomobo helped Subway with its mobile ordering service (see story).

"Restaurant self-service technology has evolved from in-store kiosks, to online ordering, to the mobile device," he said.

Associate Editor Giselle Tsirulnik covers ad networks, advertising, content, email, media, messaging, legal/privacy, search, social networks, television and video. Reach her at giselle@mobilemarketer.com.

By Giselle Tsirulnik
June 9, 2009

Mobile marketing is certainly, undeniably gaining credibility and legitimacy, but is nowhere near to reaching its revenue potential, according to industry experts.

Brands like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Jaguar, Arby's, McDonalds and Jiffy Lube are using the channel for branding and customer acquisition, which has certainly aided the industry in terms of gaining credibility.

"There has been an enormous uptake in mobile campaigns over the last few months alone," said Shira Simmonds, president of Ping Mobile, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. "As we begin to recover from this economic tsunami, advertising clients are responding with increased confidence in the market, which have resulted in increased budgets.

"The mobile campaigns that have been running for our clients over the last 6 months have continuously delivered a strong ROI as compared to traditional media alone, and existing clients are opting to renew and expand upon their mobile strategies, incorporating mobile into their full media mix," she said.

More than a third of high-use smartphone users are taking action on mobile advertisements, according to a study by AOL's Platform-A.

For marketers, smartphones and mobile marketing provide new ways to capture consumer attention with higher degree of focus than traditional forms of media.

Mobile lets marketers align their brands with a technology that is seen as cutting-edge, timely and current.

"The industry is evolving," said Cheryl Lucanegro, senior vice president of advertising sales at Pandora. "Though there is still a lot of testing with mobile advertising, we are seeing a growing number of marketers who recognize that their best consumers are on mobile devices 24/7.

"Like your keys - you don't leave home without your mobile phone and marketers want to be there. Consumers are searching, shopping, and engaging with brands on the go - offering marketers an opportunity to connect when consumers are actively seeking information to act on - then and there," she said.

Smart marketers are looking to provide a richer experience for consumers to engage with their brand.

They are looking provide value, so when consumers do click they get information they can use immediately: coupons, location-based offers and experiences that can become part of their daily life.

"We have seen more marketers upgrading their mobile sites to allow consumers to engage and make transactions," Ms. Lucanegro said. "Also more and more campaigns are now integrated with both online and mobile messaging to ensure they reach their consumers everywhere and anywhere."

Brands have a compelling opportunity to engage with consumers while they are very focused on content, sponsoring applications that are valuable to the experience and provide convenience.

According to Dave Everett, vice president and partner at KaOoga, Newton, MA, the growth of the mobile industry is propelled by three key questions marketers now have to ask themselves in the face of the harshest economic climate any of them have ever confronted.

• Is my message reaching the right target?
• Is my company getting sufficient results to justify the expenditure?
• Do I need to rethink my ad mix to stand out in this highly competitive marketplace?

The 18-40-year-old demographic is the most prized target of all, certainly for telcos, movie studios, automakers and technology companies.

"The growth of the mobile industry can be attributed to the sheer numbers of consumers using mobile, higher engagement opportunities and the increase in value of apps for the user," Ms. Lucanegro said.

"Also, the immediacy of connecting with a consumer as they are on the go and the possibility to connect and point to a brick-and-mortar location allowing consumers to take an action at that moment that results in a sale," she said.

Mobile users have deemed their mobile phone their primary communication channel as new home phone line installations start to evaporate--and not just for personal relationships, but for access to real-time information, as well as for games and entertainment.

This demographic is just as elusive as they are appealing.

"With average age of late-50s reading paid dailies, it is too inefficient to pay for all those less-relevant prospects in order to reach the one reader in four or five in the coveted age brackets," Mr. Everett said.

Mobile has become the vehicle of choice, especially since wireless carriers have invested more than $40 billion in upgrading their networks in recent years to handle video and rich data.

Mobile allows instant feedback, an immediate call-to-action and thus provides real time measurability to help marketers confirm that they are allocating ad spend optimally.

Handset users are more aware of mobile advertising, with 38 percent recalling seeing an advertisement on their device, according to research.

"The economy slowed down what we expected to be a breakout year for mobile marketing," Pandora's Ms. Lucanegro said. "However, we are forecasting lots more brands will move in mobile marketing.

"We are expecting more experimenting and brands applying the learnings to get better and better at mobile marketing," she said.

Mobile advertising has grown outside of mobile Web and SMS formats, which have previously dominated the medium.

Ads inside of games, social networks and location-based services are all recalled by significant numbers of consumers and growing faster than other formats.

In just three months, the number of smartphone users seeing ads inside a location-based network has almost tripled to 15 percent.

Also, since carriers are currently developing more and more smartphones, adoption will most likely increase and so will advertisement awareness. Smartphones provide users with a Web-like experience, more so than feature phones.

Mobile is doing better than more traditional advertising is doing right now, especially with the current economy.

"Unlike print, the buy or cancel cycle is telescoped - you are not stuck with bad meat if you see the campaign isn't pulling," Mr. Everett said.

U.S. newspaper advertising revenues which were as high as $50 billion in 2005 have declined to just $30 billion in 2008.

"Half of that missing $20 billion has probably evaporated (lack of auto, classified, real estate ads etcetera, but the remaining $10 billion are ad funds in search of an outlet," Mr. Everett said.

"And as mobile gains traction through proven success, high click through rates, the presence of national brands such as Ford, there is no longer a controversy or hesitation on the part of the ad buyers who experiment with this new channel," he said.

As phones become ever more useful with the introduction of new apps and intense competition between Palm, Apple, Samsung and the others creates even easier to use units, the industry will continue to grow.

The good news is that more and more consumers are recalling mobile advertising.

The proliferation of new formats, especially for smartphone users, establishes a real opportunity to treat the medium more creatively.

"One caution might be that as the wow factor wears down, and the newness fades into familiarity, the advertisers are going to have invest more thought into the offers they provide customers and more value in the incentives their mobile advertising provides these customers," Mr. Everett said.

Associate Editor Giselle Tsirulnik covers ad networks, advertising, content, email, media, messaging, legal/privacy, search, social networks, television and video. Reach her at giselle@mobilemarketer.com.

By Giselle Tsirulnik
June 1, 2009

Get deals right to your phone
Advertiser segments that were traditionally committed to print ads have decided they need to find new ways to reach customers.

That's the case for SnoCountry, a consortium of New England's leading ski areas, which have embraced KaOoga Mobile's text platform to reward loyal patrons and reach out to new ones. SnoCountry ski/snowboard resorts are depending on mobile to promote incentives, promotions and seasonal offerings to active skiers and snowboarders.

"Now that the papers are losing one percent of their circulation every seven or eight weeks, advertisers who had previously been slow to embrace new media have been forced to consider alternative or supplemental channels in the face of this really harsh economic environment," said Dave Everett, vice president and partner at KaOoga, Newton, MA.

"The reality is that, while they have generally been hesitant to experiment with costly ad channels, they are emboldened to try mobile because, if done right, such advertising can have impact, immediacy and most of all, measurability," he said. With the region's notoriously fast-changing weather, it is an economic imperative that the ski areas be able to immediately inform skiers and snowboarders of appealing snow conditions.

The ski areas are now having skiers and snowboarders text in to join a mobile database to receive weather updates and promotions. SnoCountry ski areas are promoting the calls-to-action on their respective Web sites and in signage throughout the resorts asking consumers to text in for weather alerts and promotions. Loon Mountain will continue to promote its new mobile messaging program during ski/snowboard season and during the summer recreation season.

Moving forward, Loon will continue to grow its database and will fully integrate the program's promotion within media and communications plans for next season, as well as testing and finding ways to generate more revenue.

"KaOoga's strategy is to partner with industry leaders and help legitimize this new channel," Mr. Everett said. "Ultimately, as this channel matures, there will be a commoditization of these providers and cost will largely determine client allocations."

The mobile channel has shown New England's most venerable ski/snowboard areas how they can distill their own messaging into a low-cost, high-impact, direct communication channel to their most responsive patrons.

After all, the consumers that are in this database have opted-in to receive current information on snow conditions and to be invited to participate in special incentives and promotions.

"Mobile is about impact, immediacy, efficiency and measurability," Mr. Everett said. "Remember, in every case the customer has asked to be informed and invited into the information and that creates an unmatched connection between the sender and the recipient."

Associate Editor Giselle Tsirulnik covers ad networks, advertising, content, email, media, messaging, legal/privacy, search, social networks, television and video. Reach her at giselle@mobilemarketer.com.

By Jordan Crook
June 3, 2009

In response to the suffering print advertising industry, newspaper Metro U.S. implemented an SMS program to get news readers interacting with its print property.

In New York, Boston and Philadelphia, Metro readers can participate in the daily Metro TXT Poll. Every day Metro will place a question on the front page and encourage readers to text in an answer for the opportunity to win a $250 Visa gift card. Results are shown the following day in the Voices section.

"By incorporating text into the print ads, advertisers can have the fastest call-to-action ever created for print ads, said Dave Everett, vice president and partner at KaOoga, Newton, MA.

"This coupon is like a 'mobile magnate' -- it actually stays on the phone of the person who texted," he said.

Tapping into this mobile channel has opened up plenty of sponsorship opportunities for Metro such as bounce back messaging, daily print exposure, prize sponsorship and online interaction.

Each of these advertising packages differs in exposure and are customizable in terms of a monthly or annual program that meets the client's budget.

According to KaOoga Mobile, papers are losing one percent of their circulation every seven or eight weeks and are being forced to implement new media strategies.

"The strategy for the newspapers is to use text to create an additional revenue source," Mr. Everett said. "They do this by providing the readers an instant ability to interact with the print."

Metro plans on furthering their SMS integration into a campaign by developing a personalized texting promotion that is linked to the print advertisements.

For a chance to win a prize offering, readers can text into a client's customized number.

"Mobile has captured the loyalty of the younger demos the newspapers have largely forfeited to the online world," Mr. Everett said.

"A text component in their advertiser relationship spices up everything else they have in the menu of offerings," he said. "Text can put print advertising in an entirely new dimension."

Metro claims that its TXT poll is a more personal and effective way to jump off the page at readers, as well as to give its advertisers a more interesting platform from which to engage customers. Metro and its advertisers chose KaOoga Mobile as the service provider for TXT poll.

This news comes off the heels of KaOoga's latest campaign with SnoCountry, where it helped promote incentives, promotions and seasonal offerings to active skiers and snowboarders.

This advertiser segment that was traditionally committed to print ads has decided it needs to find new ways to reach customers (see story).

According to KaOoga Mobile, SMS is the backbone of mobile marketing and the incorporation of TXT Poll on Metro's front page gives every reader the instant opportunity to interact with the paper.

"Text offers advertisers something to put some excitement and immediacy into their relationship with the reader, Mr. Everett said.

"It gives them a direct outreach to the 'mobile' readers. They are putting one major new weapon in their arsenal," he said.

Jordan Crook is an editorial assistant at Mobile Marketer. Reach her at jordan@mobilemarketer.com.

© 2009 KaOoga! Mobile

KaOoga! Mobile
Call us toll free: 1-888-4-KAOOGA
1-888-452-6642